Hi there,
Just read your post and wanted to give you some of my thoughts. I can feel the frustration, spending that kind of money and getting nothing qualified back is a proper kick in the teeth, especially when you've got an agency on board and had audits done. It sounds like everyone's been tinkering with the engine when the real problem might be the map you're using. I've seen this kind of thing a fair few times, so I'm happy to give you some initial guidance based on my experience.
Honestly, it sounds like you're right to think you're missing the bigger picture. When you get a load of traffic but none of it is the right sort, it's almost always a fundamental strategy issue, not just a case of shuffling keywords around.
We'll need to look at your campaign types...
Right, first things first. Let's talk about Performance Max and Display campaigns. Frankly, for a niche B2B solution, this is probably where your main problem is. PMax is basically a black box. You chuck in your assets, your budget, and a vague goal, and Google's algorithm goes off and does its thing across all its channels – YouTube, Display, Search, Gmail, the lot. While that sounds great on paper, it means you have very little control or visibility over where your ads are actually showing up.
For a B2B product in the gaming industry, this is a massive problem. The algorithm is designed to find the cheapest clicks and conversions it can. So it's probably showing your ads to thousands of casual gamers on YouTube or on mobile game apps because they're cheap to reach. They might see your ad, think "ooh, gaming related," and sign up for whatever you're offering without ever understanding its a business tool. This would explain your 100 registrations and zero qualified leads perfectly. You're fishing in the ocean for a very specific type of fish that lives in a small, inland lake. Its just not going to work effectivley.
Display is a similar story. It's great for brand awareness, but for generating high-quality B2B leads? It's a tough ask. You're interrupting people while they're browsing other websites. They don't have 'search intent'. They're not actively looking for a solution to a business problem. So you end up with a lot of low-quality, accidental clicks. You've spent $5k proving that this approach gets you the wrong audience. I'd say its time to stop throwing good money after bad with these campaign types.
I'd say you need to rethink your channel strategy...
So if PMax and Display are out, what should you be doing? You need to go where your actual customers are, and you need to catch them when they're in the right frame of mind. In B2B, that usually means two places: Google Search (done properly) and LinkedIn.
A) Focused Google Search Campaigns
Unlike PMax which bundles search in with everything else, a dedicated Search campaign gives you total control. The whole point of Search is to capture *intent*. You're getting in front of people who are actively typing "I need a solution for X" into Google. This is gold dust for B2B. But you have to be incredibly specific.
Your keyword strategy can't be general gaming terms. You need to think like your specific B2B customer. What problem does your solution solve for a game studio? Are they looking for "in-game economy management tools", "multiplayer server hosting for indie devs", or "user acquisition analytics platform for games"? These are the kinds of long, specific phrases you should be targeting. Forget broad stuff like "gaming solution". You'll also need a massive, constantly updated list of negative keywords to filter out all the consumer traffic. Words like 'free', 'gameplay', 'walkthrough', 'cheats', 'review' – all of that needs to go.
B) LinkedIn Ads
This is probably the most powerful tool you're not using. If your customers are decision-makers within the gaming industry, LinkedIn is where they live professionally. You can forget guesswork. You can target people directly based on:
-> Job Title: "Game Producer", "Studio Head", "CTO", "Lead Developer"
-> Company: You can upload a list of target game studios you want to work with.
-> Industry: "Computer Games"
-> Company Size: "11-50 employees" (e.g., for indie studios)
The cost per click is higher, no doubt about it. But the quality of the lead is on another planet. I recall one campaign we ran for a B2B software client where we were getting highly qualified decision-makers as leads for about $22 each on LinkedIn. We have a case study that details how we achieved these results. Compare that to spending $5,000 for nothing. You'd be far better off getting 10 properly qualified leads you can have a real conversation with than 100 useless registrations. LinkedIn is built for this kind of specific B2B targeting and it sounds like a perfect fit for you.
You probably should look at your offer and landing page...
Getting the right traffic is only half the battle. Once a potential lead clicks your ad, they land on your site, and that's where the next critical step happens. The fact you got 100 registrations suggests people are willing to click a button, but the fact none were qualified suggests a massive disconnect between what they *thought* they were getting and what you actually offer.
I'd take a long, hard look at your landing page. I've worked with loads of B2B SaaS companies, and the ones that succeed do a few things really well. First, the offer has to be irresistible for the *right* person. What are the registrations for? A newsletter? A demo? A waitlist? Tbh, for most software, the gold standard is a free trial. Businesses don't want to book a demo for a tool they've never touched. They want to get their hands on it, kick the tyres, and see if it solves their problem. If your competitors offer a 14-day or 30-day free trial and you're only offering a demo, you're at a huge disadvantage. You need to get people in the door with minimal friction.
Second, the copy on that page is everything. It needs to speak directly to the pain points of a game studio manager or developer. It's not about features, it's about benefits. Don't tell them you have a "cloud-based asset management system". Tell them "Stop wasting hours searching for the right game asset and ship your update 30% faster". You need really persuasive copy, somthing we often bring a specialist copywriter in for. Your value proposition needs to be so sharp and specific that a casual gamer would be bored and leave, but a studio head would think "finally, someone gets my problem". The page should actively repel the wrong audience.
You'll need a solid way to measure and qualify...
Let's say you fix your channels and your landing page. How do you stop this from happening again? You need to build qualification right into your process. A "registration" is a vanity metric if none of them are customers. What you care about is "Marketing Qualified Leads" (MQLs) and "Sales Qualified Leads" (SQLs).
An easy way to start is to add a couple of fields to your registration form. Instead of just asking for a name and email, add "Company Name" and "Your Role". This one small change does two things. First, it's a brilliant filter. A genuine business lead will have no problem filling this in. A time-wasting consumer will be put off immediately. Second, it gives your sales team (or you) immediate context. You can instantly see if a lead is from a major studio or a one-person indie dev and tailor your follow-up.
Yes, adding more fields might reduce your total number of registrations and increase your cost per registration. But that's a good thing! You're paying to eliminate the rubbish upfront. Your goal shouldn't be the lowest Cost Per Registration; it should be the lowest Cost Per *Qualified* Lead. That's the metric that actually relates to making money. This is a fundemental shift in mindset that will make all the difference.
This is the main advice I have for you:
| Problem Area | My Recommendation | Why It's Important |
|---|---|---|
| Wrong Campaign Types Using PMax & Display is attracting a broad, irrelevant consumer audience. |
Ditch PMax/Display immediately. Switch to dedicated, controlable Google Search and LinkedIn Ad campaigns. | This allows you to target users with active B2B intent (Search) and precise B2B demographics (LinkedIn), stopping the waste on unqualified traffic. |
| Ineffective Targeting Broad keywords and audiences are pulling in "gamers", not "game developers/studios". |
Build highly specific B2B keyword lists for Search. Use an agressive negative keyword strategy. On LinkedIn, target by job title, company, and industry. | Ensures your budget is spent only on showing ads to people who could actually buy your solution. Quality over quantity. |
| Weak Offer & Messaging Your landing page and offer are likely not compelling enough for B2B buyers or filtering out the wrong people. |
Revamp your landing page with persuasive, benefit-driven copy. Offer a proper free trial to reduce friction and prove your value upfront. | A strong offer converts the right traffic. Sharp messaging attracts your ideal customer while repelling irrelevant audiences. |
| Poor Lead Qualification You have no way of distinguishing a real lead from a useless registration until it's too late. |
Add 1-2 qualifying questions to your signup form (e.g., Company Name, Role). Start measuring Cost Per Qualified Lead, not just Cost Per Registration. | This automates the filtering process, saves you time, and focuses your ad budget and sales efforts on leads that actually have potential. |
Look, I know this is a lot to take on board, especially when you've already had agencies looking at it. But changing campaign settings is just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic if the ship is pointed at an iceberg. The changes I've outlined are more fundemental and are about correcting your course.
Getting this right for a niche B2B product requires a specific type of expertise that goes beyond standard Google Ads management. It involves a deep understanding of strategy, channels, messaging and the B2B buyer journey. If you feel like this is something you'd want a specialist hand with, we offer a free, no-obligation consultation where we could go through your account and strategy in more detail together. It might help you get a clearer picture of the path forward.
Hope this helps you get things turned around.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
